•which are Purafitks of the Wheat. ll(> 



the prcfent year, a gentleman who occupies a confiderable tra(f\ of land 

 in the parilli of Barham, and who is very attentive to farming, told 

 me, that in a particular field, the dreflfed feed not holding out, they 

 fowed the headland with what was undrefTed. The confequencc was, 

 that this part was very full of the Pepper Brand, while the reft of 

 the field, efcapcd. Another gentleman,, who was brought up in the- 

 medical line, but has now taken to farming, affures me, that fince- 

 he has drefled his wheat he has never fuft'ered from this evil ; and 

 ib convinced is he of the efficacy of the common method, that he 

 is determined to prepare barley and oats in the fame way, in order 

 to prevent the Dnjl Brand. I could multiply more inrtances, if ne- 

 eefTary, from information received from other quarters; but I think, 

 thefe are fully fufBcient to prove that Ms. Bryant's hypothefis is not 

 founded upon facts.- It feems evident from them, that the mifchief 

 is carried with the feed into the field (^), and that the ufual mode 

 of dreffing it a£ts as- a fufficient preventive. From one of Mr. Lath- 



(2) It may be objcded here, that feed wheat is always taken from a clean fample, and' 

 that therefore it is moft probable that it {hould meet with the feeds of the Brand in the 

 foil ; but in that cafe how could the previous drelTing, efpecially a fingle wafliin"-, a£l as- 

 a preventive ? Old feed,.wc fee, is not fubjed to it;, which muft, I Ihouid think, arife- 

 either from the Brand Dull being rubbed ofF by the frequent friction of the grains one- 

 againft another, when turned over, or from the latter lofing its vegetative principle: but 

 neither of thefe circumftances would hinder its attack, if the Brand Dull were already iii' 

 the foil. Befides, its remaining within the grain, and not like the Diiji Brand eating, 

 through the arillus, militates ftrongly againft fuch a fuppofuion. It is probable that in- 

 every wheat field a few fcattered ears may be branded, and thefe would be fufhcicnt to 

 infciil a large parcel of grain ; for every difeafed kernel contains millions of feeds of the 

 Brand, and the frequent turning over and mixing of the corn would dilleminate thefe 

 through a confiderable quantity. Still I would not be underftood to alT'ert, that Brand- 

 left in the foil never attacks the wheat : fuch a circumflanre may account for its preva- 

 lence in fome feafons, even where corn has been drcfl'ed : all I contend for i<, that this is- 

 not ufually the cafe- 



burv's. 



